Librarian Wanted - Glasses & Bun Required.

I was well aware of the librarian stereotypes before I started school. While I assumed that the impact of these negative stereotypes were discussed within the greater library community (e.g. journal articles, conference topics), I didn't really expect to discuss image and stereotypes in school. Well, not only was a lesson in my Foundations class devoted to image, but I also had to write a paper on the topic. My professor's lecture and the articles I dug up during my research kept referring to society's image of "Marian the Librarian." I vaguely remembered the character from watching The Music Man years ago, but felt that I could benefit from a bit of a refresher. Here's what a quick Google search produced:

(I know that 7 minutes is a big time commitment, but I highly recommned checking it out if you've got some time to kill.)

OK I need to take a timeout to address a couple of things:

1. Is it just me, or is this a really catchy tune? Like infectiously catchy? It's actually been in my head for the past 2 days - no joke.
2. There are actually a lot of people who really think of librarians as rigid, bun-sporting, bespectacled shushers. (BTW - did you catch the line "For the civilized world accepts as unforgivable sin, any talking out loud with any librarian"??? Ummmm, yeah I'm not going to even attempt to address that...)

Most of the librarians that I know don't fit in the "Marian mold," yet the image continues to persist. The general public really has no idea what a librarian does, let alone the fact that a person actually needs a post-graduate degree to actually be a librarian! So what do we do to fix this image issue? Is this something that the profession as a whole should try to tackle, or should the library community accept that most professions have negative stereotypes to consider and move on?